Third-and-long, third-and-short, didn't matter. The down and distance seemed to be little object for the Broncos' offense and particularly quarterback Kyle Orton in Sunday's 31-14 drubbing of the Seahawks.

In what was one of the best statistical performances of his career, Orton was at his best on third down. That was when he completed 11-of-14 passes (79 percent) for nearly half his passing yards (152 of 307), including both of his touchdown passes, a 13-yarder to Eddie Royal in the first quarter and a 21-yarder to Demaryius Thomas in the fourth quarter.

In all, the Broncos converted 14 of their 20 third-down attempts. That 70 percent conversion rate is the second-best since 1991, when the statistic began being tracked.

"We wanted to be able to sustain long drives, and to do that you have to be able to convert on third down," Royal said. "We worked on that in practice, so it was good to see that pay off."

Orton's teammates said the third-down success started at midweek when the team began working on its game plan. After converting only 3-of-10 tries last week in a loss at Jacksonville, the offense made those third-down plays a priority against Seattle.

"Kyle's always so prepared," receiver Brandon Lloyd said. "He and (coach) Josh (McDaniels) do such a great job of setting up practice, that what we see in practice is the same thing we see on the field, so we're not surprised."

"We didn't want to play the game in long-yardage situations," McDaniels said. "That really allowed Kyle to operate in those situations very effectively."

Of the Broncos' 20 third-down tries, 12 came from third-and-5 or shorter. McDaniels called for Orton to pass on nine of those plays.

"I think we exhausted our entire call sheet on third-and-2 and third-and-5, so that's a good sign," Orton said.

With Brandon Stokley — who was seemingly automatic on third downs in the three previous seasons — no longer on the team, Orton divvied up those crucial throws. Thomas caught four, Royal caught three, Jabar Gaffney caught two and Lloyd and Daniel Graham each caught one, all part of the Broncos' offensive plan to spread the wealth.

That, players said, starts with Orton.

"I think he is underrated, and this year he's turning a lot of heads, here in Colorado and around the nation of what kind of quarterback he is," Graham said.

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